To Julie Newmar, Happy 90th Birthday! All of Us
Whether she was on the stage or screen, Julie Newmar had a stupefyin’ effect on the audience.
The statuesque, sophisticated beauty, best known for her role as Catwoman in the 1960s Batman TV series, Newmar was born Julia Chalene Newmeyer on August 16, 1933, in Los Angeles.
She was immensely talented at an early age, studying dance, piano and classical ballet. After graduating high school at age 15, she studied piano, philosophy and French at UCLA.
She embarked on a Tony-winning Broadway career, then hit the big and small screens in the 1950s and early ’60s before hitting it really big with Batman in 1966.
In the 1990s, she found new fame as a result of the gender-bending comedy To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
She’s also a mother and a businesswoman, and she still embraces her Catwoman fame. Plus, she’s got a really nice garden:
Here’s a look at some of Newmar’s notable non-Catwoman roles:
Dorcas Gaylen in the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954):
Courtesy Everett Collection
Stupefyin’ Jones in the movie Li’l Abner (1959):
Copyright © Everett Collection / Everett Collection
As Katrin Sveg in the 1960 movie version of The Marriage-Go-Round Broadway show in which Newmar won the 1959 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play:
©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved/courtesy Everett Collection
Guest-starring as Vicki Russell on two 1962 episodes of Route 66:
Copyright © Everett Collection / Everett Collection
Miss Devlin in the 1963 “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville” episode of The Twilight Zone:
Copyright © Everett Collection / Everett Collection
Robot Rhoda Miller in the TV comedy series My Living Doll (1964-65):
Carl Frith/TV Guide/Courtesy Everett Collection
Guest-starring as Ulla Bergstrom on “The Beautiful Maid” 1966 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies:
Courtesy Everett Collection
Carlotta Ravenswood in the 1969 film The Maltese Bippy:
Courtesy Everett Collection
As Apache woman Hesh-Ke in the 1969 Western Mackenna’s Gold:
Courtesy Everett Collection
Appearing in four episodes of the 1970s TV series Love, American Style:
Courtesy Everett Collection
Guest-starring as Eve on a 1983 episode of Hart to Hart:
© Columbia Pictures Television / Courtesy: Everett Collection